Begin the Beginning
by claire83
Summary: Another novelization of the games featuring Andy Shepherd and Kaidan Alenko. Shameless Shenko-ness. Enjoy if that's your thing.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- Shameless Shenko going on here. This is a novelization of an Earthborn Shepherd's life and love. This first story will chronicle the first game, and updates will likely be slowish. I hope anyone who takes the time to read enjoys the ride. **

**I don't own the actuall Mass Effect franchise. Just multiple copies of each game. **

**July, 2166**

Andy Shepard watched as the lights on the shuttles flashed over her head. She was laying on her back in the grass of a small park. She was happy it was summer, the warm weather was a nice way to start out being homeless. She wondered idly if her parents had been on a ship like that. She guessed it was unlikely, the ships taking off from the nearby ship yard were pretty expensive and it was doubtful that her parents would have been able to afford passage on one of them. Andy knew she shouldn't really be surprised that they had done it. That they had left her.

Once the First contact war had ended, her parents, who were huge alien enthusiasts, had been the first to sign up for the possibility of outside colonization. And they hadn't let a little thing like having a kid stop them from accepting the first offer they had gotten. A small colony, out in the traverse. No children allowed. Insisting that it was for her own good, that it was too dangerous out there now, but that they would send for her, they had gone with hardly a backwards glance, making the pretense of leaving her with a relative. A great aunt, who was apparently senile enough to not realize that she had been saddled with a preteen girl.

Great Aunt Irma had been nice enough, when she was lucid, but she did seem to think that Andy was someone named Lucy who had come to stay for a bit. Andy was careful to stay out of her way, not quite sure what she would do if she was asked to leave.

Considering the way things had been going in her life lately she wasn't really all that surprised when she had found Irma dead in the kitchen one morning. She had dutifully called the authorities and had watched with resignation as arrangements were made for her to become a ward of the state. She packed a meager bunch of possessions and followed along numbly as she was taken to her temporary foster home. She worried that she should feel more about the passing of her aunt, but she was rather preoccupied with her own fate. Andy comforted herself with the knowledge that she had only known Irma for the space of a few weeks and did her best to put it from her mind.

Andy spent a month in the foster home before she realized that she simply couldn't tolerate it anymore. It wasn't that the couple running it were bad people, they had simply opened their home to more children then they could supervise. The lack of supervision had led to the kids coming up with their own hierarchy, and as the new girl, Andy was definitely on the bottom of the pile. A couple of the oldest kids seemed to think they could get away with a ridiculous amount of nastiness to the others, and Andy refused to cooperate with that. Which made her something of a target.

Sick of the fights and worried about what would happen to her after one of the fights had ended abruptly when she had biotically slammed one of the older boys into a table. She had left quickly, not wanting to know what would happen to a basically orphaned biotic. Her parents had instilled enough knowledge of conspiracy theories to scare the crap out of her. She had grabbed her school bag on her way out the door and taken off before they had finished disentangling the boy from the scraps of the table.

That had been nearly two weeks ago. Summer vacation had started and she was happy to not have to worry about people wondering what she was doing out of school. The back pack had not really contained much in the way of useful items. Her omnitool, a very basic model that that her parents had been required to purchase her for school, a couple of books and some granola bars. Obviously she hadn't intended to live off of the contents of the bag. She sighed and sat up, she really shouldn't stay here. It was morning and she new that people would be arriving soon, kids taking advantage of the lack of school and parents taking advantage of the neighboring zoo to keep them entertained.

Andy stood, brushing off her pants and then sat back down at the table tiredly. She hadn't eaten in two days. And what she had eaten then had been suspect, having come out of a trash can. She had been smelly too, and she wasn't really sure that the small washing she had given herself in a public restroom had done all that much good. She had read a book once, about a group of homeless children living by stealing and being clever. It had definitely not mentioned the dirt and the hunger.

She decided that it wasn't really worth it to move along, she was tired and weak, and figured she could just sit here and read or something. Hopefully she wouldn't draw much attention, and she might get lucky and someone would leave a nice uneaten picnic somewhere nearby. She slipped on her omnitool and opened up solitaire, her fingers moving as she played the game, simply wiling away the time.

* * *

><p>Kaidan Alenko watched as the girl on the bench booted up her 'tool and sat hunched over it. He was on a brief home visit from BAAT and had been spending most of that time here. She had been in and around the park every day this week. He supposed it might be odd that he had noticed, but something about her had stood out to him. And he didn't think it was entirely because of the bruises that she had blooming across her cheek. They had turned an interesting shade of blue green and the fact that she kept her hair over her face didn't do much to hide it. She suddenly looked up and he managed to look away before her gaze fell on him and he walked by her, hoping he looked like he was minding his own business.<p>

He crossed over to the concession stand and bought a large meal, two huge sandwiches and fries, carrying them back to the table next to the one the girl was sitting at. He picked at the fries as he felt her eyes on him and then he jumped slightly and opened his omnitool like he had received a message. He stood quickly and walked briskly away like he was in a hurry to get somewhere. He paused at the entrance of the park and saw that she had moved too. She was walking for another park exit, her bag bouncing in her back. He looked back at the tables and was happy to see that the food was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>March, 2171<strong>

Andy tried her best to look nonchalant as she stood lookout in front of a small electronics store. She still felt somewhat uncomfortable being involved with crimes like this, and knew that in her situation that was a weakness. She was female, and young. She knew that only her mild biotic abilities and her willingness to come along as back up on things like this kept her in this part of the business of the gang, and not in another branch that she would find much less palatable.

She stood up straighter and cursed slightly as the proprietor of the store, a kind looking middle aged man came around the corner and she gave a low whistle, the signal to clear out. She stepped away from the shadow in the doorway of the neighboring building and walked briskly towards the man, knocking into him and exaggeratedly falling to the ground with a cry. As she had expected he stopped, apologizing profusely and leaning down to help her up. She stuttered and blinked her eyes in a way that she hoped made her either alluring or pathetic, whatever would keep him distracted by her longer, and caught sight of Bug, the other lookout nodding the all clear to her. She smiled at the man and brushed off his apology, moving away from him and assuring him that she was fine. She waited for him to turn from her and then blended quickly into the crowd of passersby, rushing to meet up with the others.

As she had anticipated, there was more than a little anger as she caught up. "What the fuck is your problem Shepard? One guy was not a reason to call things off. We coulda handled him, no problem."

Andy glared at John, the one in charge of the small burglary, "You know as well as I do that we were only there for one thing. And beating up some old guy, while fun for you I'm sure, would have attracted way more attention than we want." At not seeing his glare lessen any she rolled her eyes and threw off the restraining hand of Bug as she advanced, "You have a problem with that? Take it up with Tank, not me. I'm not the one in charge."

John sorted with disgust, "And aren't we all grateful for that. We wouldn't none of us eat." He moved away and smacked Bug in the back of the head as he moved on down the street.

Andy looked at Bug and smiled slightly. "You ok?"

He nodded and then shook his head, "But you sure won't be, you keep pissing him off that way. Tank won't be around forever, and when he's gone, and John's in charge, you are so screwed." He started walking, Andy moving to keep step with his stilted gait.

She worried that that statement would apply to the both of them. Bug's club foot was good in his use as a diversion she supposed, but honestly she knew that John had little use for him. She needed to find a way to get them both out as unlikely as that seemed. It didn't help that Bug just would not stop using. Red sand was nasty stuff, and his dependence on it meant that he would probably never get out. He would simply die. That was monumentally depressing.

Andy took a deep breath, "Listen, I'm gonna take a walk, give him time to cool off. I'll see you later." She punched his shoulder lightly as she left, veering off down an unfamiliar street, honestly content to just lose herself for awhile.

She walked for about an hour, randomly turning corners and basically getting herself pretty lost. She was surprised when she looked up and realized that she recognized where she was. It was the park she had spent almost a week in when she was twelve. It was where that boy had left her food. She knew that he had done it on purpose, at least she was pretty sure that he had. She had gone over it in her head dozens of times in the intervening years and she was pretty convinced of it.

She entered the park and sat on a picnic table, her feet propped on the bench below her. She watched some boys playing soccer several yards away and leaned over, her elbows resting on her knees as she let her mind wander. She supposed she was better off than she had been then. She had food and regular access to showers. She also had an uncertain situation with violent people who either wanted her dead or didn't really care much one way or the other. She would have left a long time ago if she had thought there was anywhere she could go. The Reds would find her anywhere in the city, and she would never have the means to go farther than that. And then there was Bug.

Her usefulness as a biotic was the only thing that kept them both alive and in the relative good graces of the powers that be. She felt responsible for the kid. With a sigh she dropped her head into her hands and sat like that for awhile, only looking up when she felt the buzz of another biotic nearby. She looked up to see the biotic in question looking back at her, apparently having felt the same thing. With some surprise she felt herself blush as she recognized him. He was the boy who had left her his food. What were the chances of that?

Andy thought it doubtful that he would recognize her. Unlike him, she had changed quite a bit, back then she had been a skinny twelve year old, half starved and filthy. She had had a big ass bruise covering half of her face and her blonde hair had been dirty enough that the color had been pretty unrecognizable. Now she was nearly seventeen, wearing relatively clean clothes and had her hair dyed black and enough eyeliner on for at least a dozen other girls as Bug had gleefully informed her a few weeks ago.

She smiled slightly at him as he smiled at her and moved to sit down beside her. Not close enough to touch, but still close enough that their energy buzzed happily, a sensation she had never felt before, not even with the few other biotics she had met. She looked sideways at him and was completely satisfied that he had no idea who she was. He was wearing a uniform, the crisp material making him look handsome she thought, and frowned internally at herself. She usually didn't think along those lines. It only got you into trouble.

She cleared her throat and asked, "Alliance?" She gestured at the uniform and smiled again as he looked down, almost like he was surprised to find himself wearing it.

He nodded, "Yeah, I just joined up. Shipping out this afternoon."

Andy tilted her head to the side as she looked at him. He had a nice voice she thought, low and kinda scratchy. "Aren't you a little old for a new recruit?"

Kaidan grinned sheepishly and nodded, "Well, yeah I suppose I am. Better late than never, as my dad says."

She nodded slowly and asked, "They like biotics in the alliance? The rank and file usually seem a bit suspicious." She looked out over the field as she spoke.

Kaidan watched her, wondering why her profile seemed so oddly familiar. He belatedly answered, "They do, I suppose they find us useful. Pretty amazing incentives."

Andy sat up straighter as she looked across the way and saw John leaning against a tree, looking right at her. She wasn't doing anything wrong… but still, sitting around chatting up a guy in uniform was probably an unwise thing to be seen doing. She stood quickly, stepping off of the bench and turning briefly with a small wave. "It was nice talking to you, but I really need to go."

Watching her leave, Kaidan felt oddly bereft as the low hum of her biotic energy moved away. He wondered at her sudden change in mood and frowned as she approached a man across the field, shoving his hand away from her as he had reached out to grab her arm. They left together, but it was obvious from their body language that neither of them were particularly happy about it. He stood and started to turn to leave when she looked back, he lifted his hand in a wave but she didn't respond. She just turned back and left. As she disappeared from view, he realized why she seemed so familiar. Something about watching her walk from that exit confirmed who she was in his mind. He had always wondered what had happened to the girl from all that time ago. He still didn't know, but it didn't really look good.

* * *

><p><strong>February, 2172<strong>

Andy was breathing heavily as she ran down the street, her breath puffing out in front of her in the frigid air. She turned a corner and almost slipped as she hit a patch of ice, over correcting and swearing as she put out an arm to catch herself against the side of a building. Hearing the clear sounds of her pursuers catching up she took a turn down an alley and dove behind a pile of garbage, trying to slow her breathing down as she heard the cops come closer. She hoped like hell that they didn't have any extra tech on them that would allow them to detect her, and waited, trying to hold her breath. They moved on and she closed her eyes in relief.

Slowly she stood and stepped out from behind the garbage, curling her lip at the new aroma she had, just her luck to find a pile of restaurant garbage to hide in. Oh well, beggars and choosers and all that. She hefted the case she carried, it was the latest in weapon mods. She was somewhat uncomfortable handing them over and put them in her bag as she walked, mulling it over. She walked on, coming up on a small vacant lot and frowned as she heard a noise. There was a meaty thud and a small cry, like an exhausted exhalation. A beating then, and it must have been going on a while. Against her better judgment, she turned to approach the source of the noise, fingering the pistol she had under her jacket and stopping dead in her tracks at what she saw.

It was John, and a handful of others, they were gathered around a form huddled on the cold ground. She got closer and realized that the person on the ground was Turian. John pulled back his leg to deliver another kick and she yelled without thinking, "Stop it!" She got closer, committed to this course of action as John turned his angry eyes on her. She saw the… man maybe?… on the ground turn his head as well and felt a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach as she saw the blue blood smeared everywhere. She couldn't let this happen. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Why don't you mind your own damn business bitch? This doesn't concern you. Unless of course, you want to join in?" John almost smiled and she couldn't keep the disgust off of her face as she stood in front of him, feeling the eyes of the others on them as they faced off. This moment had been coming for a long time she supposed. She had finally reached a point where she could not let this continue.

"I think you have made whatever point you were trying to make. You should leave now." She looked at him cooly, her eyes as hard and unyielding as she could make them. She was standing with her feet slightly apart, braced for the fight she was pretty sure would be coming.

John sneered at her, "I don't answer to you. And what do you care anyway? Fucking alien is getting what he deserves. Coming here onto -our- turf. Don't you care how many humans died because of them? What are you, an alien lover?"

"I don't think that this turian was single handedly responsible for the first contact war any more than you were." She spoke quietly, trying to ignore the poor beaten thing at her feet, unable to, she glanced down at him. John made use of her distraction, reaching for his gun. With barely a thought as she saw him move, she lifted her hand and pulled mentally, creating a mass effect field that froze John in place. She looked at him nervously and then looked around at the others, her hand still raised. She was grateful for a moment for the general distrust people had for biotics as they scattered. Leaving her with an injured turian and a very angry John who would come out of stasis any time and shoot her.

Andy stooped and looked down at the alien on the ground, noting that he was still conscious. "I won't be able to carry you, do you think you can walk if I help?"

He nodded slowly and lifted his arm, she took it and levered him to his feet, moving as quickly as she could. She got to the street and leaned him against the outside of a car. He looked at her curiously as she picked up a rock and broke the window in. "Sorry, no time for finesse, and we need to get out of here quick. Otherwise I obviously would never -steal-." She tried not to think of the case of illegal mods in her bag as she helped him into the car before slipping behind the wheel and opening her omnitool. She shut off the alarm and started the motor. Then looked at the wheel in confusion. This was the strangest control mechanism she had ever seen, just her luck to choose some kind of antique. She looked at the gear shift and bit her lip as she put it to the 'D' figuring that D for drive was hopefully pretty universal. She then gripped the wheel and put her foot out to the pedals. She hit one and the car jerked forward.

She smiled as she got the hang of the steering thing and took off down the road, looking over to see her new friend looking at her with an expression she couldn't read. Not being overly familiar with the facial expressions of aliens.

Andy slowed to a stop in front of a hospital and turned the car off. She looked at the alien, he had closed his eyes and was leaning his head back, resting she presumed. "Do you think you can get inside?"

He nodded and looked at her. "Thank you. I know you did not need to get involved. I have never thought particularly highly of humans, you might just have changed my mind."

"I… Thank you. I, um, I'm not going to stick around, it's… well, it's…"

"It is better for you not to be found here. I think I understand. You go. I will wait a moment before going inside."

She smiled slightly and opened the door, "Thanks." She said as she slipped out and rushed off into the night. She had no idea what she was going to do now.

* * *

><p>The morning found Andy waiting outside of a small store that fronted for a fence. He was small time, and the reds had never dealt with him much, so she hoped she could get in and out without him realizing who she was and thinking he needed to tell anyone that she was here. When he had opened the store she stepped inside and slapped the case of mods down on the counter. Without preamble she asked, "How much?" She was aware of how she looked, she looked like what she was, desperate. She couldn't risk dickering and knew that the man would be able to sense that.<p>

Predictably, his eyes narrowed slightly as he sized her up and with hardly a look at the goods he quoted a price that was ridiculously low. Andy nodded and doing the math in her head knew that with what she had stashed at the transport station, it would be enough. Enough to take her somewhere off world maybe. "I'll take it."

The man looked almost disappointed that he had offered that much but turned and handed over the credit chit. Pocketing it, Andy left the store, and keeping her head down as she headed for the station.

As she got there she crossed directly for the bank of lockers that stood on the far wall and pulled out her key, accessing hers. She jumped as she heard someone behind her. "I knew I would find you here."

Andy turned and looked at Bug, "Well, I figured you would know that." She pulled the bag from the locker and checked the contents before pulling it over her shoulder.

"You really did it this time. They're going to kill you you know."

"I figured they would try. Bug, I have enough to get both of us out of here. You should come with me."

He smiled and the expression almost made Andy grimace before she caught herself. The drugs had done a number on him, his face and body were cadaverous and she knew that if he did not get clean, he would be dead very soon. "And then what Andy? Where would we go?"

"We can go somewhere away from here. We can get you some help." She knew that her voice had taken on the pleading quality that it always did when they talked about his addiction, and she knew that he recognized it as he smiled that horrible smile again and shook his head.

"I think we both know that that won't happen. You should definitely go though."

"I can't just leave you, they might kill you because of me."

Bug shook his head, "Nah, I'm just a junkie. They won't waste the bullet. We all know I'm not gonna last much longer anyway."

Andy clenched her teeth and shook her head no, but Bug held up a hand, "You know it's true, and I think you also know that it's ok with me. You shoulda left a long time ago. It was selfish of me to let you stay because you felt like you had to. They don't know about this. And I won't tell them. I just wanted to say goodbye." He stepped closer and hugged her. As he stepped back he made a face. "And pay for a shower, you stink like garbage."

She laughed and it sounded pathetic because it came out as more of a sob. Bug ruffled her hair and stepped back, "You go off and be awesome now. Join the alliance, or cerberus, or something. I know you've thought about it."

Andy nodded and watched as he turned and wound his way through the crowd of people rushing through the station. She took a deep breath and headed for the ticket counter. She looked at the next transport scheduled to leave and saw that she had enough credits since Bug was not coming. With that sober thought she bought the ticket and rushed to catch the shuttle. She was apparently going to Arcturus Station. Considering Bug's last words to her, she found that ironically amusing. It was to be the alliance then. She had known cerberus was never going to be an option, she had issues with the level of bigotry they seemed to embody. Maybe some of her parent's alien obsessed ways had rubbed off on her. Or maybe she was just a fair minded person. She hoped it was the latter. Alien obsessed seemed to bring images of teenaged boys enamored with asari to mind.

As she took her seat on the shuttle Andy glanced around, realizing how very out of place she was. She was surrounded by soldiers and the type of people who work around them, people who looked professional, and like they belonged. She considered the Alliance, wondering if that could be a place where she could belong. She wouldn't be eighteen for nearly two months, and wondered if she had enough credits to have a place to sleep and food until then. She looked out the window as the shuttle left atmo and gripped her arm rests, drawing an amused glance from the man next to her. She looked at him and smiled slightly, a faint blush tingeing her cheeks. He held out a hand, the gesture surprising her so much that it took a moment before she responded in kind, the blush on her cheeks deepening.

He smiled wider as they shook hands, his teeth looking very white against his dark skin. "I'm Commander David Anderson."

Releasing his hand, Andy cleared her throat and replied, "I'm Andy Shepard."

Commander Anderson nodded and gestured to the window, "Is it your first time off planet?"

Andy nodded and twisted her hands in her lap nervously, "Yeah, that obvious, huh?"

"Well, the death grip you had on my arm there was a bit of a give away."

Looking down, she felt her face flush in mortification, what she had taken for an arm rest had been his arm -on top of- the arm rest, "Shi.., um, I'm sorry."

He grinned at her obvious discomfort and the fact that she had cut off the curse word, "No harm done. Auspicious choice for your first trip off of earth. You're visiting someone on the station?"

Andy considered lying, then thought better of it. "No, I'm actually hoping to join the Alliance navy when I turn 18 in a few weeks, and I found that the place I had to stay on earth was no longer available to me. This seemed like as good a place as any for me to go. It was the next departing shuttle." She smiled wryly, sure that he would think she was either crazy, or the petty criminal homeless person that she was. Anticipating his polite, or not so polite, dismissal she turned to look out the window again, watching the void of space with fascination. Looking like this, she could almost understand what had drawn her parents so much.

Anderson watched the girl and thought. He considered himself an excellent judge of people, and something about this girl… well, he thought she had definite potential. She was admittedly a bit rough around the edges. She had the look of a young delinquent. And she had an interesting though faint aroma of garbage about her. He imagined there would be an interesting story behind that. He focused on the matter at hand. "Why do you want to join the Alliance?"

Surprised at the continuation of their conversation, Andy turned back to him and tilted her head to the side as she thought of her answer, "Well, I want to help people, and the Alliance seems like a good way to do that. I'm a biotic, and it seems like a good use of my powers. I don't really have anywhere else to go, and it seems like a place where someone could actually belong." She hadn't really meant to add that last bit. but something about his gaze, the directness of it, like he could see into her mind himself had prompted a level of honesty that she had never shared with anyone. It was disconcerting in the extreme.

"Your parents?"

She understood the question posed by those two words and couldn't help the slight snort that she gave, "Not in the picture. Gone, possibly dead."

Commander Anderson reached a decision then and nodded slightly, more to himself than to her. "I think we might be able to figure out a way around the fact that you aren't quite eighteen. When exactly does that change?"

Andy had been looking at him in surprise, "April 11, sir."

He grinned, "No need for the sir just yet. We should be able to get you in an early training program pretty easily."

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but why?"

"Why would I help you? Well, for the most part, we all need a hand sometime. And you strike me as someone who needs a hand. You also strike me as capable, or I would not be quite so willing to help." He watched her digest that and smiled when she nodded.

"Thank you, I won't disappoint you, Commander."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N- **So, obviously the last few minutes of ME3 were a bit anticlimatic, but I maintain that it was a dream sequence. Not gonna go farther here to avoid spoilering anyone who doesn't want to be spoilered... but dream sequence totally. Although up til those final few moments, it was completely everything I had hoped for. Awesome game. The good news, is that I am working out my frustration by writing more on this fic. Which is better than I can say for my Doctor Who story, sorry to any readers of both that got left on the cliffy... it will be resolved shortly. I promise. Just angsting over Bioware right now. Many apologies.

I own nothing.

**May, 2176**

Four years had certainly seen a lot of changes in Andy's life, she reflected as she sat on the bed in her quarters and stared down at the N7 insignia on her new armor. Commander, no -Captain- Anderson had been there at her graduation ceremony, and she had been very proud to show him that his trust in her had not been misplaced. She had worked hard to get into the N program and then had been unwilling to settle for anything less than the best in herself. It had been a long four years, with nothing but her training to focus on. She knew that she was considered something of an oddity by her class mates and fellow marines. She had never been seen to partake in any down time, her entire life consumed with training. She would never complain about that though. In return for her devotion and perseverance, the alliance had given her a place to belong, a life. Things she had never had in her previous life. She would be happy to be career alliance until the day she died, just in return for that.

With a sigh she set the armor aside and went back to her packing. She was being forced to take shore leave, something she was honestly annoyed with. What was she going to do on leave? She had no life outside of here. She had quickly shot down the possibility of earth as a destination, instead planning on catching a shuttle for the colony of Elysium. She glanced at the clock on her bedside and winced, she needed to hurry. Anderson probably wouldn't accept missing her transport as an excuse not to go. She tossed a couple more things into her bag and zipped it closed. She swung it over her shoulder and clipped on her pistol, even with the realization that she would probably be made fun of for taking a side arm on leave.

Andy walked briskly for the shuttle, almost colliding with someone outside of the ramen shop she frequented and was shocked to feel a familiar pleasant buzz that she immediately placed as biotic energy. A very specific biotic energy. She smiled as the man in front of her obviously seemed to recognize it too. Looking at him she was struck with how little he had changed, aside from the lieutenant stripes on his armor, and she had changed yet again. Her hair was shoulder length and it's natural dark blonde, her current life leaving little time for silly things like hair color, and she had on the bare minimum of make up, contrasted sharply with the massive eyeliner of her misspent youth. And of course, she was dressed as an alliance marine now. Not a petty criminal.

Kaidan looked at the woman in front of him and smiled, recognizing her instantly, and inordinately pleased that she obviously did the same. He had opened his mouth to finally introduce himself when her eyes widened and she spoke quickly, "I'm so sorry, I really have to go." She turned and rushed off, leaving him feeling strangely deflated. He noted her uniform as she hurried away, his eyebrows raising at the N7 emblazoned on her shoulder along with her lieutenant stripes. He was impressed. His own implants had prevented him from pursuing N classification when he joined, and he had been almost relieved as he watched countless recruits wash out of training. He shook his head and continued on his way. He knew eventually they would actually meet. At this rate, they had to. It was like kismet or something.

Shepard was smiling to herself as she boarded the transport to Elysium, it was kind of funny how she kept running into him. Some day she was going to have to find out who he was.

* * *

><p>Andy stood at her hotel room balcony, staring out at the view. It really was beautiful. Considering the 17 hours of sleep she had just had and the room service breakfast on it's way, she was half beginning to think that she shouldn't resent this forced vacation so much. She stretched luxuriously and turned to head back inside, pausing one more time to enjoy the view before going back in to pull on a pair of sweatpants. She figured that the ratty training t shirt and underwear might not be the most professional way to greet the hotel staff.<p>

She opened the door when the waiter knocked and blushed as he flirted with her as he set up her meal. It was embarrassing how bad she was at responding to such attention. She kept her arms crossed awkwardly over her chest and tried to smile without looking like she had just suffered from a punch to the kidneys. She was in fact focusing so hard on not looking as awkward as she felt that she failed to notice immediately that he had fallen silent and was staring dumbfounded over her shoulder. Having finally noticed that, she turned and the moment took on a dream like quality of slowness, the air seeming thick and syrupy as she took in the scene that now dominated the once picturesque view. There were ships crisscrossing the air, drop ships spewing out ground fighters and other, faster, meaner looking ships keeping up suppressing fire as the people on the ground tried to react to what was a completely shocking and unexpected attack.

An explosion nearby seemed to suck all of the air from the room for a moment before the slow movement of time seemed to rubber band back to present, moving faster to make up for the previous inertia. The glass of the windows shattered, blowing inward. Andy had thrown up her arms and turned from it, tackling the waiter to the ground as she went. As the air cleared around them, and her ears started working again, even with the slight hollow ringing she could still feel, Andy stood carefully and looked out again. It was batarians. A raid.

Sparing a glance down to the waiter Andy walked briskly across the room, pulling on her combat boots over her bare feet. She would realize later that she had walked over broken glass, causing several lacerations and hadn't even felt it as she had done it. Her boots laced up she stood and grabbed the pistol she had felt silly bringing along, incredibly grateful that she had done so. The waiter was standing up as she walked back over to him, she had pulled her back up piece from her bag by the bed and held it out to him. He looked at it like he had never seen anything like it and she shook it slightly until he took it.

"What's your name?" She asked, her voice slightly husky from the dust in the air.

He seemed to need to think about that a moment before answering, "Troy. My name is Troy." He reached out and took the gun, still looking like he was more than a little lost.

Andy reached over and turned the safety off, "Just point and pull the trigger. Troy, you need to get the civilians in this hotel somewhere safe, do you understand? Is there somewhere downstairs that you can barricade everyone in?"

His mind seeming to catch up with the situation finally, Troy nodded slowly. "Yeah, there's a shelter in the basement."

"Good, that's good. You get the people here inside and barricade yourselves in. Do it fast, unless you fancy the thought of being dead or enslaved."

Troy gulped visibly and blanched at her words, making her almost feel bad for her bluntness, but then he nodded and hurried from the room. She heard him yelling as he ushered the people who were milling scared in the halls to the basement. That taken care of as much as it could be, Andy hurried from the hotel, knowing that she needed to make contact with the local marine detachment.

As Andy left the hotel, she cursed her lack of armor almost immediately as she encountered enemy troops right outside the door. She threw up a barrier just in time to avoid dying of a nasty gut shot. She took cover in the door way and picked off the group of batarians one by one, doing her best to be conservative in the use of both her biotics and her shots. She cursed as her pistol over heated and she shot a large warp field at the remaining three, wincing as they screamed in pain as their bodies were pulled apart in the mass effect field. Trying to ignore the fading screams, Andy moved down the street quickly but cautiously, sticking to cover and increasingly sickened and awed by how quickly this had turned into a war zone, she managed to pick off a few fighters here and there, but she so far saw no resistance, no residents of Elisium fighting back. She slowed as she heard shots being exchanged a few blocks over and then veered towards them, moving quickly and coming in behind a group of the raiders trading shots with what looked like a couple of the local police. An asari and a human man.

She came in quickly behind the pirates and tossed out a singularity, trapping the men floating in the air and letting the other two pick them off as she looped around to join them. She noted that the asari was staring at her oddly and looked down, remembering the fact that she was out here fighting in her pajamas. Andy sighed and shoved some of her hair back out of her eyes before speaking. "I'm Lieutenant Shepherd, alliance military. What's your situation?"

The man answered her, looking sideways at the asari before speaking. "I'm Reynolds, and this is Lantia. We're security guards here. You're alliance? Are there more of you?"

Shepherd shook her head slowly and gestured that they should move back into the cover of the building, speaking as they went. "I don't know what the status of the marines stationed here is. I'm on shore leave. Do you have coms? Any way to find out what's going on out there?"

Lantia shook her head sharply, "Obviously they have cut off communications."

Raising an eyebrow at her sharpness, and choosing to mark it up to stress, Shepherd gestured to the guns they were carrying. "Nice weapons for simple security officers. You have more?"

Reynolds nodded and started to lead her farther into the building, Lantia following looking less than pleased. "This is the local head quarters for Devlan Industries. If there's one thing we have, it's lots of guns."

Shepherd took in the lines of weapons and smiled in relief, this would definitely be helpful. She started to pick through the supply and gestured for some of the office workers to come over, starting to arm them and give them brief lessons in how to fire. Lantia came forward and said indignantly, "You can't just take those!"

Andy had opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Reynolds as he said, "I think this is a circumstance that would call for bending the rules. Just a bit."

Lantia stomped off and Shepherd smiled in relief at Reynolds before tossing some more weapons into a bag to take with her. She took in the small crowd of people and addressed Lantia, "Is there somewhere that all these civilians can bunker down until this is over?"

Nodding stiffly Lantia started herding people down a hallway and Shepherd moved back to the doorway, looking up and down the street assessing the situation. Reynolds approached her a moment later with Lantia right behind him. "We have the civilians as safe as they are going to get with all this happening."

Shepherd looked at the other two and lifted an eyebrow, "You aren't staying with them."

"You are looking to connect with the authorities? Try to help?" Lantia asked, an unreadable expression on her face.

"Yes. Things will only get worse if no one does anything." Andy answered her, meeting her eyes and feeling herself weighed and measured under the other woman's steady gaze.

"If that is your goal, you will need assistance. The people here will be lost anyway if we fail to repel this attack." The look on the alien woman's face seemed to be slightly less severe than it had previously, and Reynolds nodded his agreement with her statement.

"Happy to have you along then. We get through this, drinks are on me." Andy grinned tiredly and led the way from the building.

* * *

><p>The following thirty-seven hours passed in something of a blood and smoke soaked blur. Reynolds had dislocated his shoulder in the fallout of an explosion, but had insisted on continuing, only consenting to be left behind when they had liberated a group of school children from their would be slavers. He had remained behind to protect them along with an earnest young mechanic who had spoken in a strong Scottish brogue, and had told her to grab some batarians by their 'daddy bags'. Shepherd had laughed out loud at that one, and then had moved on.<p>

Her growing group of armed civilians and the occasional combat trained individual had managed to secure a rather large section of the city. By the end she was literally shaking with fatigue, surprised beyond belief that her biotics continued to respond to her commands even as she could hardly see she was so tired and hungry. She thought she might have broken her ankle at some point, but couldn't really remember. She just knew it hurt like hell.

Lantia had stayed right by her side through the entire ordeal, and when they finally saw reinforcements being brought in from the alliance ships that had been involved in the air battle, the woman had actually kissed her smack on the lips, leaving her blushing and stuttering while the asari looked at her with amusement. She had limped slowly to the line of alliance troops, surrounded by the cheers of her compatriots as the pirates that remained did their best to escape and retreat.

As she neared the line, she shoved her sweat soaked hair out of her eyes and grinned as she realized who was standing in front of her. She saluted smartly, and felt warmth spread through her chest at the pride in Captain Anderson's eyes as he said, "Report Lieutenant."

"We seem to be alive Captain. And damn glad to see you all sir." She blushed again at the lack of professionalism of that statement. But the answering grin in Captain Anderson's eyes, and the whoops and cheers of the people all around indicated that some lack of protocol seemed to be just what was needed.

Andy happily settled into being treated by the medical personnel who had come in with the soldiers and had promptly fallen into a deep, partially drug induced sleep. Not sure she had ever been so happy to relinquish consciousness in her life.

* * *

><p>Kaidan, like everyone else on the space station watched in somber awe as the drama of Elysium played out. He had watched as what appeared to be a young woman, badly injured, had approached the alliance captain at the head of the reinforcements. Some enterprising reporter had managed to catch her statement and the cheers that went up around the bar Kaidan had settled in to watch had been nearly deafening. He had grinned and joined in with the celebrations, looking up briefly as the same enterprising reporter had managed to find out who the girl at the head of the line was. The noise of the crowd had dropped considerably in his mind as he recognized her.<p>

"Well, I'll be…" He trailed off and smiled slightly, at least he knew her name now. He turned back to his fellow celebrants and raised his glass, starting up the toast, "To Shepherd!" He grinned and drank deeply as the crowd took up the call.

* * *

><p>David Anderson looked down at the report in front of him, it was the same as all of the others. He had never been so happy to be proved right. Andy Shepherd had certainly made him happy that he had put himself out there to help her. Report after report of the young human woman who had single handedly rallied the civilians to protect the city. In her pajamas no less. He was pleased to find out that she would recover from her wounds and be as good as new. She was still unconscious and he was in no hurry to have her peace interrupted. She was going to need all her strength for the publicity that was going to come. He winced slightly as he thought of how much she was going to hate that. Oh well, that's the price of being a hero.<p>

* * *

><p>Andy awoke in stages. She felt the stiffness of the sheets against her skin, then she became aware of the dull throbbing pain in her ankle, and everywhere else really. Felt like she had gone through one of those wringer washers she had read about in a book once. She shifted slightly, testing the muscle pain and finding it tolerable. She noticed then the noise of the place she was in. The bustle of activity around her, the voices and the beeping of machines. Then the sharp smell of antiseptic, typical of med centers everywhere. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, grimacing at the brightness of the fluorescent light above her. She turned her head from it and was still making a horrible face when she heard a chuckle. She turned her head to the source of the sound and would have raised an eyebrow if she thought she had that kind of control over her facial muscles. There was a turian sitting in the chair by her bed.<p>

He smiled, or well, she thought it was a smile. Hard for her to tell, as she wasn't really familiar with turian facial expressions. Then he spoke, and something about the timbre of his voice was familiar to her. "Well, I never thought I would see you again. I probably wouldn't have recognized you cleaned up, but looking like you had crawled through hell like you did on the extranet footage I saw, I thought, 'I know that human'. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise at seeing you here. It seems you have a habit of rescuing people."

Andy felt her eyes widen as she realized who he was. She sat up quickly then winced as she realized that that hadn't been a great idea. He held out a hand and steadied her as she was about to fall back down, he even helped prop her up on one of the pillows.

"You are suffering from dehydration and you were extremely over taxed on your biotics. I am betting you feel as bad as you look." He gave her that facial expression that she was pretty convinced was a smile again, "You also have a broken ankle, multiple lacerations and contusions, and I do believe you must have attempted to catch a rocket with your teeth."

Shaking her head slowly, thereby forestalling any dizziness the motion might cause Andy asked, "Are you a doctor or something?"

"Or something would be the correct term I suppose. You caught me at a rather embarrassing moment in my life. A group of human teenagers getting the jump on me like that was a moment of overconfidence on my part that nearly got me killed." He looked at her and she was pretty sure it was some kind of measuring gaze, she might be getting good at the facial expression thing. He went on, "I look forward to seeing where your career goes after this. Maybe we will see each other again sometime."

Andy nodded and he was gone before she could form a reply. She frowned at the empty doorway in thought. She was kept from musing too long on the man's identity by the arrival of Captain Anderson.

"I know you weren't too pleased with idea of shore leave, but really Andy, this is a bit much." He smiled as he took the chair that had been occupied by the turian moments before.

Smiling back at him, Shepherd shook her head, "What can I say sir? Apparently I am incapable of relaxation."

He shook his head and his smile faded somewhat, "You did good work, and I was very relieved to find you alive. There is going to be an incredible amount of publicity from this you know, there is talk of promotion, and even the star of terra."

Andy made a face, "Speeches."

Captain Anderson chuckled mildly, "Indeed, and I imagine it will be about as bad as you're thinking. Rest a bit longer, take advantage of it. Then it'll be time to get cleaned up and go listen to a bunch of politicians congratulating themselves on your good work." He smiled in response to Andy's eye roll and continued, "I imagine that after that, alliance control has definite plans for you." Standing with a sigh, he stepped forward and set his hand on Andy's shoulder. "I am very proud of you. I'll let you get some more rest, you're going to need it."

* * *

><p>The captain had definitely -not- been lying. This was possibly the worst six hours Andy had ever had to live through, and she had had some bad experiences in her life. Her ankle hurt, and she knew it would be very bad form to show it. Her face hurt worse, she wasn't sure she would ever be able to relax the facial muscles that were contorted into the ridiculous grin she had had on for hours now. She had tuned out the droning voice of the man speaking now. He was some kind of ambassador, and if what she had heard before deciding to mentally check out of the rest of his speech was any indication, he was more than a little whimsical in the brainpan. She let her gaze take in the crowd before the stage, and started slightly as she recognized a face.<p>

She felt intense gratitude as the longwinded politician finally wrapped things up and she followed the others in filing off the stage. She was as polite as her very rushed thank you and goodbyes could be as she walked quickly around to the crowd that was still milling in front of the stage. Among the throngs of uniformed people she blended well enough to avoid being recognized and accosted as she looked for the person she was sure she had seen from the stage. Gritting her teeth in frustration and pain as someone jostled her and she landed roughly on her broken ankle. She stumbled slightly and was steadied by a hand on her elbow.

Andy turned towards the hand and she smiled hugely as she saw the owner of it. "Bug! My God, what the… I…" She trailed off and he grinned at her lack of eloquence before hugging her tightly. She pulled back slightly and just looked at him, she was surprised she had recognized him. He looked healthy, the dull eyes and twitchiness that had been associated with his addiction was gone. "You look great. What happened to you?"

Bug glanced around at the crowded plaza and keeping his hand on her elbow, led her to a small cafe at the edge of the courtyard. She took a seat across from him at the only empty table and leaned in close so she could hear his explanation over the din that surrounded them. Bug smiled at her expectant expression before speaking. "Well, as you know, you left, and you left a lot of people in a very bad mood. I got sent out on a job guaranteed to get me killed, I got captured instead. Never try government sponsored rehab if you can help it. Not a good time. I served my time, got some job training and took a job that got me off planet. I was going to try to look you up, then I saw the news." He grinned, "Andromeda Shepherd, big damn hero."

"Oh, use of the full name is totally uncalled for. Cruel even. Apparently legitimacy does not agree with you." Andy punched lightly at his arm as she spoke, and was thrilled to see the lightness of his answering smile. It had bothered her for years, wondering at what his fate had been. To see him whole and happy was a huge release. She leaned back in her chair and smiled at the harried waitress who came to get an order from them. Andy ordered a cup of coffee and tapped her fingers on the table lightly, watching as Bug ordered a cup of tea and then turned back to her.

"You know, I don't go by Bug anymore. I've actually come to prefer Paul." He paused as the server brought their drinks back and he looked at Andy, wanting to gauge her reaction to his next words. "I found my dad. A couple of years ago. He hadn't seen me since I was a baby, he's the one who got me the job here." He took a drink and watched as Andy poured some creamer into her coffee. She was frowning slightly and he figured he knew the answer to the question he was about to ask. "Have you heard anything about your parents?"

Andy scoffed and took a drink of her coffee before replying. "No. Don't want to, don't expect to." She looked back up at him and her hard expression softening as she looked at him. "I am happy for you though. I'm glad things are good with your dad."

Paul smiled and nodded, "I am too… You don't think they might try to find you after all this?"

"Honestly, I think they're probably dead." Andy answered him, in a tone that indicated she was done with the subject.

Knowing her well enough to drop it, even after all of these years, Paul did. They moved onto talking about his work and life, and plans for the future. They spoke for a while about her time training and what an uncharacteristically lucky thing it had been that she had met Captain Anderson. They were both really happy to see how their lives had changed and parted ways with definite plans to keep in touch. Andy also promised to try shore leave again sometime now that she had someone outside of the military to spend it with.

* * *

><p>Captain Anderson had been right again Andy thought as she looked out over the rise she was standing on. It had been an insanely busy couple of years. She had been on nonstop missions since Elysium. A never-ending stream of firefights and running. Lots of running. She looked behind her, at the transport that would be taking her to her next posting. After all this time working special ops and moving around a lot, she had been assigned to a ship. She knew that Captain Anderson was her new commanding officer and she was flattered and nervous at his hand picking her to be his xo. She hefted her bag higher on her shoulder and turned away from the view in front of her to get on the waiting shuttle. She had been on a mission that had started as simple recon and had become rather drawn out and involved. She was sad that she was going to have to cancel her shore leave, but resolving this situation had made it worth it. It was always worth it to put a stop to a Cerberus op, and this one had been even nastier than most she had seen.<p>

She buckled into her seat and leaned her head back to catch some shut eye. She wondered idly if it would be difficult adjusting to life on one ship. It might get boring after all of the running around she had done. Maybe boring would be nice.

* * *

><p>Kaidan sat next to 'Joker' Moreou in the cockpit of the SSV Normandy rolled his eyes as Joker made another snarky comment about the latest addition to the onboard crew. It was very boring working the door as they welcomed the new crew members aboard. Sometimes he wished that they could dispense with the tradition of having to grant every single crewman permission to board. But he supposed it was only his frustration with having to be the one to do it today that made him feel that way.<p>

Joker was looking ahead, accessing personnel files when Kaidan glanced over at his view screen. He frowned, "How did you get access to those?" Because of the secretive way this shakedown was going, they only had access to the crew list when the individual person checked in. So far he was impressed, definitely the best of the best on this run. Which was a hell of a thing, considering most shakedown cruises ran on a skeleton crew.

"I have my ways." Joker answered, and then let out a whistle as he scanned the list. "Anderson is really pulling out all the stops on this one. Something is seriously up."

Kaidan privately agreed with that assessment, but because he enjoyed winding Joker up he said, "You're reading too much into things."

Joker snorted and gestured at his screen, "Whatever, we have a highly decorated captain, and we have seen some very talented people come through that airlock. There's me, the best damn pilot in the alliance. There's the freaking hero of Elysium, and a council SPECTRE! This is no ordinary shakedown cruise. I repeat, something is up."

Kaidan felt his heart give a little lurch, but was sure he had misheard him and asked, "Who did you say?"

Smiling knowingly Joker waggled his eyebrows at him, "You know who I mean…" He leaned over to the side and looked out the side panel, "And speak of the devil. There she is." He gave a low whistle and looked over to gauge Kaidan's reaction. He was thrilled to have something to tease the lieutenant about. The man seemed pretty cool, but was too serious by half. Joker acknowledged that their new xo was not too hard on the eyes, but she wasn't really his type. She looked like she could kick his ass, and someone with his loud mouth needed to watch out for that. He was satisfied to see Kaidan flush slightly before doing his best to appear impassive. Someone had a bit of a crush.

Deciding to pretend that he hadn't reacted the way he had in front of someone sure to give him lots of grief about it, Kaidan stood in preparation for the call that came a moment later. There was the beeping and then the cool, slightly husky voice that he remembered said, "Commander Shepherd reporting for duty. Permission to come aboard?"

Kaidan cleared his suddenly dry throat before responding, "Permission granted. Welcome aboard commander."

Andy stepped through the airlock and felt the familiar tingle of the detox scan before the inner doors opened. She stepped through after the familiar whoosh of pressure equalizing and stopped in front of the officer waiting to greet her. She was so distracted by looking around that the feeling of a fellow biotic's energy shocked her and she swung her eyes around to meet those of the man in front of her. She smiled genuinely before she caught herself and her professional face fell back into place. The man smiled back at her briefly before saluting smartly and introducing himself.

"Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko maam."

His voice was that same scratchy timbre that she remembered and she smiled slightly and replied, "At ease Lieutenant." They were interrupted by another crewman reporting to the ship and she stepped back to find her quarters, feeling ridiculously happy to finally have a mystery solved. And possibly ridiculously happy to be around the pleasant buzz of his biotic energy on a regular basis, something she was unsure she wanted to admit. Even to herself.

Joker had watched that exchange with a lot of interest and had noted the flash of recognition and happiness on the Commander's face. This might actually be interesting to watch.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- So, I know it has been forever and a day since I updated. And even longer since I updated my other stories… Sorry… So, I was originally intending to play through the games as I wrote, but considering the fact that life is insane, and between work and everything else, I never have time for anything, I figured that if I actually did that I would NEVER manage to update. So, that said, any differences in dialogue could either be attributed to that, or to changes I purposefully made for the sake of novelization. I will let you all interpret which is which.

That all said, I hope you all enjoy my interpretation of the story. Thanks for reading and hopefully enjoying. And a huge thanks to OtterPotter, CyanB, & Billee for taking the time to review. I hope you continue to like it.

As always, reviews make me want to write faster, and I own nothing. Yay.

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Things had moved ridiculously fast once Andy had come aboard the Normandy. They had left dry dock a mere 40 minutes after she had arrived, the crew completely in place and the ship on it's way to the mysterious destination that had most of the crew abuzz with curiosity. It didn't take much in the way of intelligence to know that this was more than a mere shakedown.

Andy stood at a console reviewing her ground team for the duration of the journey and wondering exactly why she was going to require one. She caught herself looking at the picture of the Lieutenant longer than she had intended and felt herself actually blush. She cursed under her breath about her stupid pale complexion and moved on to Jenkins. His scores were excellent and she noted that he and Alenko had served together briefly on another ship before this one. Anderson must have been going mostly on the boy's outstanding test scores for his picking him for service on this ship, as that looked like his only off world assignment to date aside from the usual tour of duty on Jump Zero. With her clearance level she noted that the Corporal was being considered for N level training.

She went back to Alenko's file and frowned at the cautionary statements about his being an L2. It was sad that even among a group that utilized the biotics in their ranks to the fullest extent, that there could still be that level of prejudice. It looked like his commanding officers had all had good things to say for him however, and his service record was even cleaner than her own. He was definitely career Alliance. She was drawn from her station by a call to the cockpit, it seemed they were preparing for the jump. She had to get up there and inform the pilot of their destination. It was on a need to know basis apparently, and she had only just leaned herself, moments before take off. Andy rushed aft, narrowly avoiding colliding with a couple of people as she approached the front of the ship and came to stand behind the pilot's chair. She handed the data pad with the course data to Joker and stood at ease, her hands behind her back.

Andy glanced sideways at their turian guest, she had heard about the fact that a counsel SPECTRE was on board, but had yet to see him. He stared straight ahead and she surreptitiously eyed his profile, trying to place where she knew him from. It finally struck her and she snapped her head forward, wondering what exactly it meant that he was here.

She watched as Joker smoothly took them through the jump, impressing her with the fact that they had come through so exactly on target. She had never seen that skilled of a jump, it explained why Captain Anderson was willing to hand pick a legendary smart ass. She watched the man she now knew as Nihlus leave and turned back to the two men seated in the cockpit, smiling slightly to herself as they went back and forth over what it could mean that he was along for the ride. She had to agree with Joker that it was odd, and said so. "They don't send SPECTRE's on shakedown runs."

She was rewarded with a vindicated nod as Joker went on, "Exactly! There is something going on here they're not telling us." He looked about to go on with his theories for what that might be exactly, but was interrupted by Captain Anderson's voice over the comm.

"Joker, report."

Joker sat up straighter and answered, "All systems online, stealth system engaged. Everything looks solid."

The Captain's voice came back over the comm, "Good. Link us up to the comm buoy. I want mission reports relayed back before we reach Eden Prime."

Nodding Joker started moving his hands over the controls to comply, "Better brace yourself sir. I think Nihlus is heading your way."

Andy winced slightly at the exasperated tone of Anderson's reply. "He's already here lieutenant." There was a pause to allow that to sink in, and the Captain went on, "Tell Commander Shepherd to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing." With that he cut the link and Joker turned his head slightly in her direction.

"Got that Commander?"

She nodded, "I'm on my way." She turned and left the cockpit, the sounds of their continuing banter fading as she went.

She stopped to talk to Navigator Pressly, concerned at what she thought might be an argument between him and what sounded like Engineer Adams over the comm. She smiled slightly to herself to find this man going through the same conspiracy theories as the pilot. She doubted either of them would appreciate the comparison. She did frown slightly at his tone as he questioned Anderson's involvement and had to admit that she might be slightly touchy when it came to the man who had been the closest thing she had had to a father for most of her life. She was put at ease when Pressly explained what he had meant, waxing a bit poetical about Anderson's accomplishment and then moved on to discuss the fact that their 'guest' was a turian. She wasn't sure how she felt about the fact that she would be working closely with a bigot, but hoped it would prove to be an inaccurate assessment on her part. The man did seem to be a bit of an alarmist. He could be exaggerating his feelings about aliens as well. She assured him that she would try to find some answers and moved on.

She stopped again as she was hailed by the doctor and Corporal Jenkins. She stood with her hands behind her back and nodded as he spoke, trying not to seem annoyed at another interruption on her way to the briefing room. She backed up the doctor's concern as he enthusiastically wished for action and tried to reassure him that he had a long career ahead of him, and that being calm would not be a bad thing. She almost winced as she realized how old she sounded while talking to the boy, and excused herself to go to meet the captain.

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When Shepard entered the comm room it was to find Nihlus alone. She let the quickness of her gait falter slightly as she came to a stop a few steps behind him. She was somewhat nervous now that she had realized who this man was. She took a couple of steps closer and stopped, waiting for him to speak. He must have something to say, since he had arranged for them to run into each other alone. And she had no doubt that this meeting was no accident.

Nihlus turned to face her, and she took the final steps forward to stand in front of him as he spoke. "Commander Shepard. I was hoping you'd get here first. It will give us a chance to talk."

Andy inclined her head and asked, with no doubt a small amount of suspicion in her voice. "What about?"

He smiled, and Andy was sure it was a smile this time, she had gotten better at the facial expression thing, "I'm interested in this world we're going to, Eden Prime. I've heard it's quite beautiful."

Andy felt the implied challenge in that statement and raised an eyebrow in question. "I honestly couldn't say much about it. I've never been."

He twitched his face in a way that she thought might be the beginnings of a smile. "Even so, you should be aware of the reputation of the place. It has become quite a symbol to your people. Proof that humanity can not only establish colonies across the galaxy, but also protect them." He turned to look back at the view screen, to what was apparently a picture of the place. He continued in what almost seemed as an afterthought. "But how safe is it really?"

"I suppose I am. It is the most advanced colony we have managed to establish on our own." She answered with a small smile of her own. Then she tilted her head, in answer to his last question. "Do you know something?"

Nihlus turned back to her then and tilted his own head with a gesture back at the screen, "Humanity has been moving very quickly. Some ask, are you really ready for this?"

Andy opened her mouth to question his meaning, when Captain Anderson came into the room, and Andy couldn't help but be slightly disappointed by the fact that that was the extent of their conversation. She definitely didn't show that though as she turned to salute the Captain. He nodded to her.

"At ease Commander."

Andy relaxed her pose and listened as Captain Anderson explained that the suspicions of the crew were grounded, there was more going on than anyone was aware of.

Kaidan felt the loss of her energy buzzing pleasantly against his own and was amazed at how the absence struck him. He managed to stop himself from looking after her, but was still very aware of Joker's smirk that said he still hadn't masked his interest that well. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped and frowned at what was coming in over the screen he was monitoring. "Joker, we're getting some kind of distress call from Eden Prime." He saw Joker's answering frown and moved to transfer the feed to the pilot's control panel so he could see what he was talking about.

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With a grim look on his face, Joker called the Captain on the comm. "Captain Anderson, we're getting some kind of signal from Eden Prime. Looks like a distress call." Joker patched it through when asked to and then looked at Kaidan, both of them wearing a somber expression for once.

They didn't wait long before Commander Shepherd was suddenly behind them again, her hand resting on the back of Kaidan's seat. "Suit up Lieutenant. We're going ground side." Then she was gone as quickly as she had appeared, presumably to gather the rest of the ground team.

Kaidan stood and headed to the elevators, he had a bad feeling about this.

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As Andy got ready, strapping into her armor and checking her guns, she thought about what Nihlus had said. She still couldn't quite believe she was being considered for the SPECTRE's. It was so far from what she had expected, that it had a very definite unreal quality to it. She remembered him telling her, all those years ago that she had changed his opinion of humans. And was happy to have provided a good example of what her people could be. She also remembered him mentioning that he would be keeping an eye on her career. Apparently this was what he had meant. She hoped she was good enough. This really would be a massive step forward for humanity. She just hated having the damn spotlight. And humanity's first SPECTRE…. Well, that was gonna be worse than all that 'Hero of Elysium' bull.

She shook herself from her musings, she had a mission to accomplish.

Andy stood, suited up and looked sideways at her team. Jenkins looked jumpy, almost like he couldn't quite believe this was happening. It made her nervous to go out into an unknown hostile situation with someone so green, but she supposed he would eventually get the experience needed to calm down a bit. Alenko on the other hand, looked concerned but calm. She listened as he asked about survivors, echoing her own thoughts. She nodded to Anderson, indicating that she understood their orders and watched as Nihlus was dropped from the ship.

As they approached the next drop point, she looked over at her ground team and then out the hatch. She wondered briefly how exactly her nice boring tour of duty on a ship had turned into this kind of craziness.

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It certainly hadn't taken long for this mission to go completely sideways. Andy looked down at the lifeless body of Corporal Jenkins and felt sick. The young man had been over eager, and sincere. She hoped his enthusiasm would have mellowed and hardened into the dedication that was required of the N program. Now they would never know. She watched as Alenko crouched down and closed the young man's eyelids and she spoke, her voice slightly huskier than normal, she had lost people before, but it never got that much easier. "We'll see that he receives a proper burial. But we need to go."

Kaidan stood and nodded, his jaw set and they turned together to keep going. They fell into step as they went, and they fought a few more patrols of the droids they were facing. She was impressed with the way they seemed to be so in sync as they fought, both of them using a complimentary combination of biotics and shooting, both of them seeming to instinctually know what the other was planning. They went on that way for awhile before coming across a lone marine still fighting. She looked like she had almost had it, reaching the end of her rope as it were and the two of them came blazing down the hill. They stopped to get a report from her, and seeing that the girl seemed to be regaining stamina and seemed intent on some kind of payback, Andy asked her to lead them to the beacon.

Andy paused as Nihlus broke radio silence to tell her that he would be waiting for them at a spaceport up ahead and gestured for the other two to move out behind her. They got to the dig site where the beacon had been found and it was decided that it had already been moved and prepped for transport. Andy started moving faster, a strange feeling coming over her that things were about to go even worse. They came upon a small group of prefabs and noted that the locks were engaged on one. Wanting to see if there were survivors, and hoping for more information, Shepard had Alenko crack the lock. She stood to the side as he worked, looking out over the landscape and marveling at the stark contrast between the smoke and destruction and the vids she had seen of the colony. It made her think a little of Elysium. How quickly things could change.

When the door opened she was happy to at last find a couple of survivors and to talk to them, even if one of them seemed more than a little nuts. They confirmed that the beacon had indeed been moved, and the crazy one also made her wonder a bit as he described a turian that had been here before the attack. What the man called a 'harbinger of destruction'. She shook her head and told them to stay hidden, but that they had cleared the area.

As they left to head farther, towards the spaceport to rendezvous with Nihlus, she felt a chill go over her as she heard a single shot ring out.

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Kaidan followed as they moved at a quick pace through what was something of a nightmare. He was still reeling over the fact that Jenkins was dead. Dumb kid had walked right out of cover. And he hadn't missed the fact that Shepard was more affected than she had let on. As they went he watched the Commander, she was cool and competent and it made it easy to follow her into battle, even after just losing a friend.

When they got to the spaceport, he looked at her face as she looked down at Nihlus, and he got the definite impression that he had been more than a relatively unknown SPECTRE in her mind. She knelt beside him and closed his eyes and Kaidan wondered if they had met before. She led the questioning of the dock worker and he wondered at the fact that she managed to make the panicked man give them more information than he likely thought he had. They moved on then and her sense of urgency was apparent to him and to the gunnery chief they had picked up along the way, this mission had already gone so badly, and the feeling of impending doom seemed to be catching between the three of them.

Those feelings of doom were confirmed as they came across four huge thermal charges that were likely designed to flatten the colony. He worked to disarm them as Shepard and Williams covered him. Lost in his work, he almost hadn't noticed when a geth had gotten ridiculously close and Shepard had thrown up a barrier around him before taking the thing down by hand. Williams had looked at him sheepishly then, apparently ashamed that the machine had nearly gotten through on the side she was supposed to be covering. The three of them moved down the platform as the last charges, and last of the geth were taken care of and approached the beacon. He noted Shepard stepping slightly away as she called for pick up and he looked in amazement at the glowing remnants of the past civilization.

He looked over at Williams as she exclaimed, "It wasn't doing anything like that before!"

Kaidan felt himself almost drawn forward as the device seemed to whisper to him and he panicked when he was suddenly being very literally drawn forward as the beacon seemed to be exerting some kind of gravitational pull on him. He heard yelling and felt someone grab him, struggling with the force that was drawing him forward before he was tossed roughly aside and hit the ground hard. He rolled over, Williams helping him up, in time to see Shepard now pulled into the air in front of the beacon, her arms at her side stiffly.

He started to move towards her when Williams stopped him, "No! Don't touch her, it's too dangerous!"

About to argue, Kaidan still tried to stand when the matter was decided for them as the beacon exploded, sending Shepard flying through the air like a toy. He rushed to her crumpled form and turned her over carefully, looking over her face. She was still breathing. That was something. He picked her up and spoke through his comm, "Alenko to Normandy. We have a problem. We need to rendezvous for a pick up."

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When Andy came too, at first she thought she was dreaming. Kaidan Alenko was looking down on her. She blinked and he spoke. "Dr. Chakwas, I think she's waking up." Andy confirmed his statement by slowly rolling over, dangling her legs of the bed to sit up. She held her head briefly, sitting that fast might not have been a great idea. She looked up as the doctor asked her how she was feeling. She shook her head.

"Minor throbbing. Nothing serious. How long was I out?"

The doctor shook her head. "A few hours. Something happened with the beacon I think. Your rapid eye movement was off the charts, something usually associated with dreaming."

Andy shook her head again, she wasn't sure what she had seen could be called a dream. "I… It was… A nightmare." She blushed slightly at how inane that sounded, especially with the lieutenant right there. Not that that was something she should be concerned about.

Alenko cleared his throat, "It was my fault commander. I think I must have triggered some kind of security mechanism."

Shaking her head again, Andy reassured him, "There's no way you could have known what would happen."

She looked back at Chakwas as the woman spoke, "The blast does seem to have knocked you cold. Aside from the eye movement I mentioned. You said you had vivid dreams? I will need to put that in my report."

Andy had started to protest the inclusion of her nightmares when the sickbay doors opened and Captain Anderson walked in. She dropped from the bed and saluted before he gestured sharply, "At ease." He looked to the doctor, concern apparent on his face, "And how is our XO holding up?"

She missed the exchange between them as she watched Kaidan leave, excusing himself. She looked back over to note the doctor leaving as well.

She looked at Captain Anderson, noting how agitated he was. It became apparent why as he spoke about the situation. The mission had indeed been a clusterfuck, but it didn't seem to make sense that it would be taken so badly. The situation had been completely unexpected. She frowned as he mentioned that he too thought her visions should be reported. "But what are we going to tell them sir? That I had a bad dream?"

As he shook his head and explained that the beacon could have held anything, and wasn't meant to be processed by human minds she nodded. The images were still so fresh that she was having a hard time concentrating. The horrific sights of people being butchered like that… She thought it likely that these few hours of unconsciousness would be the only sleep she got for awhile.

As she left the medical bay after being dismissed, she veered almost automatically to the lieutenant. He smiled when she approached and his low and scratchy voice seemed to resonate as he spoke. "I'm glad you're ok Commander. Losing Jenkins was hard enough on the crew."

Andy nodded somberly, "It was pretty rough down there. How are you holding up?"

Kaidan shook his head, "Well, it's rough losing people. And you never get used to seeing dead civilians… How do you deal with it ma'am? Losing people."

She frowned and looked away for a moment before looking back at him, meeting his brown eyes with her grey ones. "Well, I wouldn't say it gets easier. Honestly, it probably shouldn't. But I tell myself I will do better in the future. For them. That helps, keeping hope."

He nodded thoughtfully. "Word is we're heading to the Citadel. Can you tell me why?"

"We are meeting with the council. We need to let them know what happened on Eden Prime."

"Yeah, I would imagine they want to know Saren isn't one of the good guys anymore." Kaidan looked at her carefully for a moment before continuing. "It's too bad about Nihlus too. He seemed like a good man."

Shepard nodded. "He was, as far as I could tell." She smiled at him and patted his shoulder before moving on. "I need to get up to the bridge." She wondered at herself for the shoulder pat thing… That was really unlike her. He seriously messed with her head.

She paused for a brief conversation with Williams and Chakwas as well before moving on. As she got to the cockpit, they were just coming up on the Citadel. It really was something… She had never been there before, most of her missions the last two years had kept her in combat and planet side, on one planet or another. The space station was beautiful, and very… Big. Which was a hell of an understatement.

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Things had continued to not go smoothly as they arrived on the Citadel and things promptly went to hell there too. They were sent off to find some kind of proof of Saren's wrong doing and Andy was silently fuming over the way Anderson had been dismissed and shoved aside. She was not a fan of Udina. He was a complete prat. They had gone looking for the C-Sec officer who had been investigating Saren and she had just gotten done fighting off a pair of assassins, and then the disgusting advances of Harkin. The man was a pig.

The three of them walked down the Ward and she was drawn to the railing, looking out at the amazing view. Kaidan perfectly summed it up as he said, "Wow, that's big."

Andy smiled as Ashley ribbed him a little, "That your professional opinion, sir?"

She had to back him up though, "This isn't a space station, it's a city."

Kaidan nodded as he leaned down and spoke again, "Just look at the ward arms, how they keep the mass from coming apart… I mean, Jump Zero is big, but this is a whole other scale."

Andy looked towards the other two, "The council represents more races than I thought. It makes sense that they are cautious with new comers."

Nodding again Kaidan looked at her briefly before looking out again, "They're probably just trying to keep things running. Can't be easy keeping all those races happy."

Ashley crossed her arms as she looked out and said darkly, "Or maybe they just don't like humans."

Trying to lighten the mood Andy answered in a slightly teasing voice. "What's not to like? We have oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love, according to the old vids, that's all they want."

Kaidan chuckled and answered her, "When you put it that way there's no reason they wouldn't like you." He seemed to realize what he said as he blushed slightly and stumbled over his speech, trying to recover, "I mean us… Uh, humans. Ma'am."

Ashley jumped immediately on that as she grinned at him, "You don't take much shore leave, do you, LT?"

"All right, laugh it up Williams." She smiled at Alenko, "I appreciate the thought Alenko, but we're on duty here."

He nodded, the blush still visible under his olive complexion. "Aye aye ma'am." He pulled back from the railing.

Williams was still grinning slightly as she said, "I'll walk drag ma'am."

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Another author's note- Couldn't resist adding that bit of dialogue even as I skim through all the random bits on the Citadel. It was too fun. Also, I will try to not have it be six months between updates this time. Scout's Honor.


End file.
